“I was a three letter athlete in high school and college. I was always in shape,” says 55-year-old Eric Powe, a paraprofessional in Randolph, New Jersey. Unfortunately, circumstances often have a way of derailing people.

Powe entered the workforce after college and was soon living the sedentary lifestyle you’d expect in inventory management. He says his 40 to 50-hour workweeks consisted of “moving from the desk to the restroom to the cafeteria to the next meal to my car to my home to the couch.” In spite of that, Powe indicates he remained in his college mindset, drinking beer, Ballantine Ale, and Seagram’s VO, while eating “anything and everything” including fast food, pizza, and sweets.

Unfortunately, living that lifestyle for close to two decades eventually caught up to him, as Powe says that he suffered “an episode of tachycardia arrhythmia, which at the time was life threatening.” At the age of 40 and with his marriage unraveling, Powe explains he was at a crossroads because he says he was “305 pounds with this problem that can come up and kill me and I had a newborn baby son.” To help him cope, doctors prescribed a beta blocker, paxils, and valiums. Powe says at around that point, he came to the conclusion that “I have to do something because if I don’t, I’m going to end up kicking the bucket, and my kid’s going to be out on his own.”

To prevent that from happening, he turned to someone he knew could help solve his problems, Jay Cardiello, who provided him with continuous support while introducing him to the JCore body transformation program. Powe says he quickly “stopped drinking altogether” and immediately started following the program’s nutritional plan consuming lean meats, poultry, fish, and fresh vegetables. He adds he also learned to “eat smaller meals and space them out” as a source of energy to help him through his workouts.

Initially, Powe decided to work out from home while watching JCore exercise DVDs because he says he was “embarrassed to go into the gym.” While in the comfort of his own home, he performed 20 to 30 minute bodyweight-only exercises designed to raise his heart rate and initiate fat loss by repetitively attacking body parts from different angles. And, the results came quick. “I lost 30 pounds in a month,” explains Powe adding he would “wake up everyday and couldn’t wait to do the workout” often performing them as much as twice daily. By the end of the year, Powe lost a whopping 70 pounds. The following year he lost another 50 pounds and jokes his abs “went from [being] the keg to the six pack.”

Powe says his commitment to his workouts was at least 50% responsible for his transformation and adds that the nutritional plan and supplements also played key roles. But, even though he lost 120 pounds and gained a six pack, arguably the greatest change was to his outlook. Years ago, Powe says he couldn’t shake “the feeling of hopelessness and despair.” Today, a revitalized Powe lives a lifestyle free of prescription medications, alcohol, and depression, and says he feels full of energy to “not only to hold down three jobs, but to responsibly raise my son.”